Feline Defender.

Ok I gots the mice. They are noisey fuckers... and braizen! They make me scream, well yelp really, It's not actually a scream, not like space mountain screaming anyway.

Anyway... STAY IN THE WALLS! Get out of my garbage and out of my way. They shit fucking EVERYWHERE it's gross. Dirty little bastards. Sarah hateses them, but neither of us can stomach traps.

Now, I like cats, but I hate cleaning cat shit, I hate the allergic effects and I don't want to be it's jailer or shovel my pet off the street, balling and wailing. However, fortune smiled upon our little home. The neighbours cat likes to meow at the door. We got sick of the wailing so we let him in.

His name is Jack. He has SEVEN toes on each front paw, maybe eight it's kinda hard to tell. He's black and most importantly he is a hunter. We let him in he looks around then catches the scent and waits quietly in the kitchen.

Pif: "What am i going to eat... MAN! Eating is-"

Sarah: "!!!" (bright-eyed, exictedly pointing at Jack, while gleefully waving at me)

Pif: "DUde..."

Sarah: (still pointing ephatically) "oh... my... god..." (That is the sound Sarah makes when trying to be still and silent AND jump up and down and the same time)

Then vigourously but restrained, we do a strange spontaneous smiling dance of celebration. Jack looks at us oddly. We stop. He turns back intently. We back out of the room and chatter in the living room about it till we get distracted, forget, remember homework and start doing it.

An hour or so later...

Sarah: oh-my-god-pif-come-here!

Jack is in the kitchen with a mouse in his mouth. drops it. it runs. he jumps it. puts it in his mouth. drops it. looks at it, it runs. he gets it. about a hundred times. everytime it runs,, we scream.

Us: We have (EEEEK!) to get it out what do (YEEP!) we do how do we (AAAA!) get it i can't believe he caught (BAAAH!) one what a good catcher he gonna play (JESUS!) with it forever we have (GAAAA!) to trap it.

After moving some furniture, we, with jacks help, get them both outside. Jack disappears down the backstairs, mouse in mouth.

No sign of a mouse for two weeks. Well, I guess the truce is over, 'cause that pizza box is noisey and moving. Where or where is Jack? JACK we need your wierd mutant paws to save us from the tyranny of these dirty monsters.

please?


Today's Song of the Day is "Please Please Please" by James Brown off his 1956 album "Please, Please, Please."

Crazy Fact: In 1988, he led the police on an interstate car chase after allegedly threatening people with a handgun.

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Coke is Shit.

Coca-cola is pulling out the the recycling program in quebec. What the hell year is it? What kind of a backward company pulls out of a recycling program already in place. I have to re-double my effort to blacklist them. they fell into my grey list, my i'll try when i remember, unless I really want them and always send them and there products dirty looks. I guess dirty looks isn't enough for you mr. coke. I have to up it to dirty looks AND harsh language you bastards.

Dude here is a PARTIAL list of coke's other brands:

Bacardi Mixers
Barq's
Crush
Dasani
Dr Pepper
Fanta
Fresca
Fruitopia
Hi-C
Mello Yello
Minute Maid
Powerade
Sprite
TaB

phewf, my Ginger-ale is still safe.


Today's Song of the Day is "Cocaine" by Eric Clapton off his 1977 album "Slowhand."

Crazy Fact: Are ALL his good songs written by somebody else... yes. JJ Cale wrote this, Michael Kamen wrote wonderful tonight, I shot the sheriff was Bob Marley, I don't really lke Layla but Jim Gordon wrote it. He Covers Knockin' on heaven door which is B. Dylan, crossroads is robert johnston. all the cream and blind faith stuff is totally loaded with other folks. dude... will everyone just agree with me that clapton is over-rated all ready.

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An Unhealthy Infatuation With a Rich Guy.

That guy's name is Steve Jobs. The problem is I like just about everything this guy has ever done or tried: The Personal Computer, the Mac, NeXT, Pixar, iPod, iTunes, iTunes Store, the iMac, QuickTime, the Newton (and I agree Palm does it better.)

He makes money AND makes the whole computing experience better for everyone. He doesn't copy he tries and fails and tries and suceeds, at the vanguard, rarely copying other, usually striking out on his own. If you've been around this computer crap-o-la as long as I have you hear the same story with slightly change variables.

Apple sux because X, X will never work, X costs too much...

Be that X: the iPod, the Personal Computer, the Macintosh, the Laser printer, CD Drive, the switch to the linix based MacOSX, people buying MP3s when they could be stealing them, Computer Animation...the list is long and boring

He is without a doubt the biggest influence in the history of Personal Computers themselves and how they are used. Photoshop, PDFs, Word, Excel, QuickTiime, Post Script... all mac first, anyway the list is endless. I'll not argue it all here. Anyway he is a rich guy I can't help but like.

...but this is getting crazy The Largest Stock holder in Disney?!

"The all-share deal will make Steve Jobs, the chief executive of Apple, around $3.5b and the single largest shareholder in Disney. Jobs created Pixar in 1986 when he paid $10m for the computer animations division of Lucasfilm, owned by Stars Wars creator George Lucas."

I have a bad feeling about this. I may have to start disliking him. Disney scares me. A huge brand a once great company (truly.) That crazy old Walt would take risks like Fantsia (I guess he bet the farm on that one.) A Huge innovator within the field and an artist. An Artist whose art has become so popular most people can't really see it as art anymore. The whole Disney world thing was so crazy that it just might work. a Cool guy, making money but not JUST making money.

But now.. ick. not so great. I doubt Jobs can change Disney, and I'm worried Disney might change him. He is more effective on the vanguard. In the shoes of the underdog. You place him at the top and start shoveling money at him, he might become too interested in staying on top; keeping it all where it is, instead of making it better.

We will see.


Today's Song of the Day is "Pussy Galore" by The Roots off their 2002 album "Phrenology."

Crazy Fact: The long-awaited Phrenology was released in late November 2002 amidst rumors of the Roots losing interest in their label arrangements with MCA. In 2004 the band remedied the situation by creating the Okayplayer company. Named after their website, Okayplayer included a record label and a production/promotion company.

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Disney is freaking me out.

"Disney’s $7.4 billion purchase of Pixar Animation Studios could strengthen the ties between another company headed by Steve Jobs... ...Steve Jobs is now Disney’s biggest shareholder."

Huh? Steve Jobs is freaking me out. He's gonna be bigger than Jesus.


Today's Song of the Day is "You Can't Always Get What You Want" by The Rolling Stones off their 1969 album "Let It Bleed."

Crazy fact: They are still performing and by all reports still good. That's crazy.

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Speed

I'm not a huge fan of the speed but i'm giving it a shot. My shrink and i have decided to go up to 100 mg/day. It wasn't that scarey an idea 'till just now when I typed it. Shit! That's alot of sp-sp-speed.

Once I stop flinching at the kick in the teeth ONE HUNDREAD MILLIGRAMS OF SPEED EVERY DAY FOR THE FORSEEABLE FUTURE wants to give me... it's really not so bad. I've built up a mean tollerance to all the speedy addictive effects and I was on 70mgs for quite sometime. It's only 30 mgs more, but the 'dread' in one hundred is really sticking with me.

However, it's clearly working.

When I'm on it and working(and at school) it's like I'm obsessed. I'm just working, no other distractions show on the radar, which is the intended effect.

nope. not good enough. I'm still not convinced that it's not too much speed. hmm... what other good things can I say about it. Every three months or so we do a little servey and my symptoms are totally dropping. The numbers are quite convincing.

ok me go.


Today's Song of the Day is "Anywhere I Lay My Head" by Tom Waits off his 1985 album "Rain Dogs."

Crazy Fact: As well as act as one of the principals in Jim Jarmusch's 1986 film "Down by Law" he contributed several songs from this album to it's sound track.

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n i m b y

What the hell is dal security doing marching around the building? They're bugging me. It's like 8:00 and GEEK BEER is underway. Can't 'the man' every leave the poor geeks alone?! damn them all.

Yes, geek beer is 2.50 a drink in the atrium of the cs building. They have open-mic and a DJ in between. I've seen it waaay crowded and I've seen it way empty. It's a big space to fill.

The surprising thing is the bands are pretty good. Some of those geekettes can really belt it and many of those nerds are showing off years of piano, guitar and drum lessons and obsessions. it's kinda neat. Radiohead seems to be a house favorite. I heard a very convincing 'creep' cover and the 'fake plastic trees' cover was almost moving. of course they're not all great...

Anyways What's with the MAN spoiling the groovey 'we all all geeks here' atmosphere. How much fun can you really have with 'the man' staring you down.


Today's Song of the Day is "Ain't Misbehavin' (Piano Solo)" by Fats Waller of his 1929 album "The Joint Is Jumpin'"

Crazy Fact: He studied with famous classical pianist Leopold Godowsky and along side Count Basie, but unfortunately he got a firm grasp of the shitty end of the stick due to racial barriers throughout his carrier, keeping from reaching the level of respect he deserved.

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Walk the walk

Ok so I'm taking a whole wack of new classes and have new profs 'n' whatnot. This is about my prof for 2121: Computer Organization with Assembly Language. He is actually an educator. He has the most detailed Syllabus I've ever seen. Anyway in the first lab we did this quick five minute interactive test to tell us what our learning preference is. Very interesting.

Anyway it seems I have "a strong Kinesthetic preference for learning..." What that means is I don't get it till I walk the walk. Its clear to me this is true. My first degree was in Theatre which is a very practical degree. You sit and talk a little, and get up and do it a lot. Same goes for Computer Science. Lotsa labs and assignments and practicums. Even my graphic design 'education' was use the software to learn it, none of this reading or talking about it. If I got stuck I went on-line or to the interactive help utility.

It's crazy I recommend you give the link 10-minutes of your time. It's food for thought if nothing else, and for me it put a few things into perspective. Dig it.


Today's Song of the Day is "Karma Police" by Radiohead off their 1997 album "OK Computer."

Crazy Fact: Kid A, and the following album Amnesiac, both debuted at number one even though they spawned no singles and are not "radio-friendly."

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Take 5

With this song I finish Volume 5. It was hard as hell to find songs I gave a damn about for 1957 and for 1962. Jesus. Tough years. I couldn't find my Patsy Cline so that made 1957 even harder. ...um, For those of you who don't know what the hell I'm talking about (and actually care) I'll review the Song of the Day mandate which is basically just Fair represenation.

In every Volume (an MP3CD which holds approximately 150-170 songs) I hit every...

...year in the last fifty,

...decade in the last 100 years,

...musical genre (I aim for at least five times each.)

As a whole I'm trying to get at least one song from every year back to 1700. This ain't easy.

If you want one of these MP3CDs, let me know and I'll put you on the list. By the way, I lost the old list. I'm making a new list. If you want on it. Let me know. (add comment to this post.)


Today's Song of the Day is "Desafinado" by Stan Getz & Charlie Byrd off their 1962 album "Jazz Samba."

Crazy Fact: “Desafinado” -- which roughly translates as ‘off key’ or ‘slightly out of tune’ -- won these fellas a Grammy in 1963.

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11 Months.

I remembered! Well, it's been 11 months. I'm such a sucker for piano. This song has been stuck in my head for a weeks. This seem like a good time to send it. love you baby.


Today's Song of the Day is "Songbird" by Fleetwood Mac off their incredibly popular 1977 album "Rumours."

Crazy Fact: This was once the best-selling album of all-time. Now it's number eight. FYI here are the top 5 best-selling albums of all-time:

1. Eagles: Their Greatest Hits, 1976
2. Michael Jackson: Thriller, 1982
3. Pink Floyd: The Wall, 1979
4. Led Zeppelin: Untitled (IV), 1971
5. AC/DC: Back in Black, 1980

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I was wrong...

This is the Worst thing I've ever seen. I couldn't even watch the whole thing. It make we want to gouge out my own eyes and set my head on fire.

http://www.youtube.com/watch.php?v=ALV6PF6tV_g

I will balance this atrosity with an amazing song that I just love.


Today's Song of the Day is "La Rosita" by Coleman Hawkins off his 1957 album "Coleman Hawkins Encounters Ben Webster."

Crazy Fact: A professional when he was 12, Hawkins was playing in a Kansas City theater pit band in 1921.

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This is the worst thing I've ever seen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch.php?v=Gi2CfuqcUGE

It must be a fake. Knight Rider would never do this to me.

It's still on. I'm still watching it. and it is getting more terrible by the second. The blue screen is a terrible thing in the wrong hands.


Today's Song of the Day is "Hell Is Round The Corner" by Tricky off his 1995 "Maxinquaye."

Crazy Fact: Originally, Tricky was a member of the Wild Bunch/Massive Attack and left in the mid 90s to go solo.

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Rant to the Void

I was walking home from school thinking about the unknown. I was thinking how there are two reactions. Fascination or Disinterest. We have to have a way to deal with the unknown. It's a constant in our lives. And if you like me for every question answered two more pop up in my head. So at this point My list of unanswered questions is so long it's dog-eared pages are faded and smudged and scattered through my brain often forgotten in some corner.

Anyway there are a lot of badly answered questions floating around out there. That people seem to be holding on to, and I'm not really sure for what reason. Like a creation myth had purpose once upon a time. We didn't know. We couldn't carbon-date, we didn't know how things worked. So I would say "5,000 years old? Sounds as good an answer as anyone's got." But now people have better answers. Why are we holding on to these old ones?

These guys were doing the best they could with what they had, but, dude, they were wrong. Billions of people all over the world believe the oldest, most-dangerous, un-proven ideas, ever conceived.

How about:
No answer yet.
dunno.
we are still working on it.
This is the best we got so far.
Get back to you.
It's a puzzle.
Well we can prove this... but...

Death? Shit man, your guess is good as mine. Let's hope it's a good time. It's better the fearing the worst.

Done ranting.


Today's Song of the Day is 'Dead Is The Drunkest That You Can Get' by the Rheostatics off there 1997 album "Double Live."

Crazy Fact: Voted the most Canadian band ever. They are great in concert too.

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Are people different on the other Ocean?

Is our country too big? So my friend moved to BC to go to law school and he says people are different. He finds the people there... difficult. Difficult to get to know, uncomfortable with familiarity, clic-ish... distant... etc. And I wonder, is it true? He's lived around (Toronto, California, Vermont, Halifax... that's all I can think of...) so he has some basis for this judgement. Are they different? Are they stand-offish? Are we *too* friendly, *too* familiar on this coast? Are we different enough to be seperate countries? Are we more like Maine and Boston then those Van City ilk?

I hope not. I'd like to believe that's not the case. This is clearly an irrational impluse based on some external and ill-fitting nationalism. Canadian's don't have a national identity. That's our national identity. And I think that's pretty cool. This post-referendum Canada with the panicked national identity is mildly interesting rush job. It's like a parade or fireworks, interesting momentarily but quickly forgotten. It won't stick. We all kind of know that. We are happy the rest of Canada is out there, glad we are there, glad not to be struggling to belong. Mostly, we are quite pleased to be defined as 'not Americans.' That's our strongest bond.

Well, except the Reform party, er Conservative party, er whatever, they want to be Americans. I think that's why they will never win.


Today's Song of the Day is 'Strange Town' by The Jam off their 1983 album "Snap!"

Crazy Fact: Hugely popular and influential in England, the Jam are hardly recoginzed in North America. weird.

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Taste

My Brother claims I have the muscial taste of an Old Gay Man. Now I'm not sure what the means, I do know that it partly means My muscial taste (in his mind and others I love) ends in 1990. Now like an Old man I have bee heard to say things akin to "they don't make 'em like they used to." Which is kind of true and tired and also an exaggeration. And It's true I like Cole Porter, the Gershwins, Fats Waller, Irvin Berlin (ie Show tunes) but I stop short of "Rent" or almost anything by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Not cuse it's new but because it's crap.

Pop was better back in the day. Better in 1967, better in 1957, 1947, 1847, 1747, 1647 even in 1987. I'm on thin ice I know. But I'm ok with cold and wet.

The only interesting thing going on now it's actually quite amazing. The independant music arena. People doing it themselves. It's cheap and easy to record and mix music. A home computer and some cheap software and you can get started. With the Popularization of the MP3 and the easy internet access it's cheap or free to distribute. Suddenly the little guy has the means of production and access to the world market. Better still these guys have no rules or limits. No Label to interfere. No implict or explict censorship. Nice. These guys are the Vangard, watch and listen for them.

Here's the Queen of them all, with a 10-year old song on this very issue.


Today's Song of the Day is "Napoleon" by Ani DiFranco off her 1996 album "Dilate."

Crazy Fact: She never went to a label, instead started her own. Her label, Righteous Babe, produces commerically unviable outsiders. She started by selling tapes out of her car after concerts. On her CDs it reads "While copying msuci is often necessary it's never as good as the real thing." Nice. I couldn't agree more.

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Digital Coolness

This one is about the link.

As JR said who sent me this link (and many others over the years) "I know QTVR is *SO* 90s but this is pretty cool." and He is right It is so five years ago AND it is worth a visit. It's a panorama of New Year eve 2006 in Times square complete with Mariah Carey. You can Click, hold and move the mouse around to see up down and around and round the whole 360 as a matter of fact. There are other very cool ones there too. like Moscow. and the desert and on top of the Matterhorn.

I used to look at black and white photos and think wow if only it was in colour and colour photos and wish wow if only that was on tape. I have a different appreciation for old photos now than I did, but still as far as a method of documenting an event. This certainly gives you a better feel for what it is like to be there and someday we will say "if only it was shot as a VR movie."

Your going to need QuickTime for this one: Get it here. (if you don't have it.)

Here's the Link: http://www.panoramas.dk/new-year-2006/times-square.html If you go to the right hand corner there is a lot other Panoramas to choose from.

Today's Song of the Day is "Walk Don't Run" by The Ventures off there 1960 debut "Walk, Don't Run"

Crazy Fact: This album was recorded in such a hurry that the members themselves couldn't stay around long enough to be photographed for the cover (those are stand-ins).

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You keep coming back...

What the hell? This site at 9983 hits. That's almost 10,000. Ten thousand is a crazy big number. wow. Anyway, Before the Beatles, before Elvis, before even Jesus, there was the boogie woogie...


Today's Song of the Day is "Too Much Boogie" by John Lee Hooker off "The Legendary Modern Recordings 1948-1954"

Crazy Fact: 'the Hook' had a cameo in the 1980 movie "The Blues Brothers."

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No talk. (oops... I talked)

This is supposed to be about the MUSIC man!

I really really like the movie "Almost Famous" by the way. It's a really great rock 'n' roll movie. Shows alot of sides of it and it sticks with you. It stuck with me, so much so I bought the company. It is definitely in my top five movies about music/musicals, and that's saying alot. I probably have more than five in my top five though lets see: Amadeus(oh baby is that number one), Purple Rain, West-Side Story (though I wish I didn't but I can't help it), Almost Famous, The Piano... I guess that's five. Huh.

Anyway I'm not supposed to rant, I'm supposed to read. This one is about the music MAN! This one is for our FANS!


Today's Song of the Day is "Penpals" by Sloan off their 1994 album "Twice Removed."

Crazy Fact: I think I've said everything there is to say about Sloan. They named themselves Sloan cause a friend had that for a last name and they thought it was cool. So the story goes...

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Tham Hamt Athm

Math, get used to the word.

I'm going to talk alot about it for the next 3 months at the minimum. So Sarah begin the kind-hearted, smarty-pant that she is bought me a book 'God Created Integers' edited by Little Stevie Hawking. (Can you imagine taking dictation from that crazy litle robot voice for weeks on end?)

So Since I'm a math major now, I'm going to joyfully read every word and of course retain every concept for my bright gleeming future in the exciting field of Mathematics! Horaay!

...but it's a cool book. really.


Today's Song of the Day is "The Magic Number" by De La Soul off their 1989 album "3 Feet High and Rising."

Crazy Fact: De La Soul had sampled the Turtles' "You Showed Me" and layered it with a French lesson on a track on 3 Feet High called "Transmitting Live From Mars," without getting the permission of the '60s pop group. The Turtles won the case, and the decision not only had substantial impact on De La Soul, but on rap in general. Following the suit, all samples had to be legally cleared before an album could be released. The Turtles are now on my hit list.

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Major dissappointment

Ok so when I signed for this Computer Science thing I didn't know It's really only a politely disguised Degree in Mathematics. Why are they doing this to me? To Me! ME!


ME: Why doesn't anyone else have to take these fuckING math courses?

REALITY: They do.

ME: FUCK YOU!

REALITY: Lie in the bed you made SLAVE!

ME: ok.


So I'm a math major now. I'm taking three courses a term (It's the only way to be sure) and TWO of them a in the Department of Mathematics:

Linear Algebra.
Discrete Mathamatics.

So as a new years resolution, I've decided to act like a math major. So here I am writing instead of doing my homework. perfect. Well bach liked math sooo... maybe this wil help.


Today's Song of the Day is "Lute Suite in E minor: IV. Gigue" composed by Johann Sebastian Bach in 1711(or so), Performed here by Andrés Segovia, probably recorded in 1968.

Crazy Fact: Both Parents opposed his learning the guitar so he was forced to teach himself. Being self-taught, his technique was unique. It was, in fact, superior to that which was being taught at the time.

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Happy Old Year.

I was walking with fiver and talking to cel in shubie and last year pretty much rocked for me. It all started in Florida with screaming Mind-melting Terror on Space Mountain on new year's day... Then I met the girl I am going to marry (kind of a big deal) then I went polar bear swimming in New Hampshire (which was the most physically intense experience of my entire life... Briefly (about 12 minutes) I was convinced it transformed me into a god, Odin actually. I went to PARIS!!! Which HAS transformed me into a god. Caleb got married, Sonia got married. I'm going to be an uncle again and it might actually be a girl (eek!)... I got an A(!!!) in my summer course. I'm sure there's more but yeah... I'm pretty pleased about just about everything I even got a brand spanking new computer-ma-phone... ma-tron. pleased. yes pleased. I even got a surprise party for my birthday, which was also terrifying beyond description.

I've wanted to send this for a while so hear it is.


Today's Song of the Day is "Duncan" by Paul Simon, this live version is off his 1977 compilation "Greatest Hits Etc..."

Crazy Fact: In 1999, Simon toured on a double bill with Bob Dylan.

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